The invention relates generally to the combination of a paint set with a rotable transparent cover to form color wheel combination, and more particularly to an improved color wheel and paint set combination having a relatively simple means whereby the transparent cover which serves as a color combination selector is rotatably mounted over and removeable from a base having a circular array of paint-containing recesses therein.
This patent represents an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,414 which issued to E. A. Robinson on Dec. 11, 1973 for a Water Color Set and Teaching Aid and which is assigned to the Assignee of the present invention. The above-identified patent and the references cited therein represent the closest known prior art and are typical of the field of use of the present invention.
The prior art teaches many different types of paint sets, some of which are provided with various types of covers. Similarly, the prior art teaches various devices employing color wheels or selectors to aid in choosing color combinations. The above-identified patent teaches the combination of a relatively simple transparent cover having selector indicia thereon which serves both as a removeable cover for the paint box itself and as a rotatable color selector for use in cooperation with the progressively arranged paints in the box which serve as the color wheel.
The various color wheel apparatus of the prior art were not adapted to serve as removeable covers for paint boxes and normally involved a permanent rotatable connection of a colored disk with a rotatable indicating means. Similarly, most of the paint boxes of the prior art were equipped with lids adapted to be removed therefrom or otherwise opened but were not normally equipped with rotatable covers. The above-identified patent combined these features in an arrangement whereby the transparent cover having the selector indicia thereon was removeably mounted to the paint bearing base for rotation with respect thereto by means of specially curved configurations on the side of the base and on the cover flange which were designed to effect a snap-fit. Such specially designed snap-fit constructions are relatively expensive, are subject to mechanical wear, and are often difficult for children to operate.
This invention combines the paint set and teaching aid combination with an improved means whereby the dual-function transparent cover is removeably mounted for to the base portion of the set which contains the paints for rotation with respect thereto without requiring a snap-fit configuration but rather in a relatively simple, inexpensive, easy to operate manner.